Why Thirsty ... well, why not?
Why Thirsty is not a rhetorical question, but a Taiwanese joint that apparently just opened up about a month ago in the Trader Joe's shopping center on the SE corner of Rosemead Blvd. and Huntington Dr.
It's a limited menu, with basics like pork chop rice, mine meat rice, popcorn chicken, beef noodle soup, beef rice, sausage rice, sweet potato fries and an assortment of boba tea selections.
Pork chop is OK, not crispy enough for me.
I digged their beef rice, however. Very homey and comforting. Sauce had me licking the plate.
The Taiwanese teen pop playing on the TVs was not exactly appetite inducing, but whatever.
Oh, and they apparently cook their food with "drinking water" ... as opposed to, I suppose, dishwasher water?
I still can't get over that name ... "Why Thirsty". Well, heck, why not, right?
WHY THIRSTY
7248 North Rosemead Blvd
San Gabriel
-
Peripatetic
Dec 20, 2011 01:35 PM
> Pork chop is OK, not crispy enough for me.
Do you think the "Railroad" is comparable to normal pork chop rice? My impression is that they've created almost an entirely different dish that's orthogonal to pork chop rice. Of course maybe the Chinese says pork chop rice, creating different expectations. (Sadly I can't read Chinese.)
›2 Replies-
re: Peripatetic
TonyC
Dec 20, 2011 03:17 PM
"Railroad" is like "artisanal" for the Taiwanese set these days. It's meant to hark back to the days of yore, when dining on chitty bento boxes on the slow-arse train from Taipei to Kaoshiung seemed romantic. It's not a cooking method/style, but a mere excuse for the soggy pork chop (steamed within the bento, hence isn't crispy).
Railroad Bento on Valley closed in '09(?) but another Railroad Bento, ie, "Cafe 18", opened in Hacienda this summer. The 2 shops are unrelated. See pix for Chinese name: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/vyno2v...
-
-
-
Peripatetic
Dec 20, 2011 12:19 AM
We went here on Friday, and ordered "The Railroad" (port fillet), the beef noodle soup, and the Formosa milk tea. The pork fillet was excellent -- very tender and well seasoned, with good sides. The beef noodle soup was very good, though we ended up adding a little more soy sauce to bring it fully to life. The milk tea was also excellent -- not too sweet. I'm looking forward to trying more items from their (very concise) menu.
›1 Reply -
-
Thanks for the tip. Whenever I go to that Trader Joes I always check to see if there's a new Chinese restaurant there, but right now it's difficult to spot because only half of the signage which says "Wh" and "Rice and Noodles" is up, and it looks more like it's under construction than actually open. Interesting that an authentic Taiwanese place has opened up here as for decades the location had been a mecca for Americanized Chinese food, particularly the long running Sam Way Kitchen. I found it ironic that Sam Way survived for so many years, while in the freestanding building in the adjacent lot the pioneering Peony Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant, once proclaimed I believe by the L.A. Times in the 1980s as a world class Chinese restaurant, couldn't make a go of it.
-
cant talk...eating
Nov 25, 2011 10:29 PM
Did you notice that the boba-snack place on the SW corner of Las Tunas and Mission (next to Lao Bian Dumpling) appears to be reopening under the name "Whatever Cafe"? I would understand if they're just giving up on thinking of new names for these. I thought "Quickly" was sort of phoning it in name-wise, but, wow.
I'll try to go there and report back.
›1 Reply-
re: cant talk...eating
TonyC
Nov 30, 2011 09:50 AM
"Whatever" has indeed soft opened: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whateve...
I'm happy the current wave of Taiwanese tea houses are ALL carrying food (MJ, Whatever, Why Thirsty), but the names.. O my the names.
-
-
